| System for recognizing left-hand or right-hand driving conditions -> Monitor Keywords |
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  System for recognizing left-hand or right-hand driving conditionsUSPTO Application #: 20050209764Title: System for recognizing left-hand or right-hand driving conditions Abstract: System for evaluating the driving environment of a motor vehicle and for influencing the speed of the motor vehicle in its own lane, with an electronic control unit, which is connected to a signal generator generating a signal which is characteristic of the desired speed of the motor vehicle, a signal generator generating a signal which is characteristic of the yaw rate of the motor vehicle about its vertical axis, a signal generator which generates, for objects located in the space lying in front of the motor vehicle in its direction of travel, a signal which is characteristic of the distance and orientation of the objects with respect to the motor vehicle and which reproduces the speed relative to the speed of the driver's motor vehicle, and/or the distance relative to the driver's motor vehicle, and/or the angular offset or the lateral deviation relative to the vehicle longitudinal axis of the driver's motor vehicle, and a signal generator generating a signal which is characteristic of the speed at least of one wheel of the motor vehicle, and which unit is connected to at least one control device influencing the road behavior of the motor vehicle in order to supply this with output signals which are derived from the road behavior of the motor vehicle located in front of the driver's motor vehicle, in which, in order to identify left-hand or right-hand traffic, the speed of motor vehicles traveling in front of the driver's motor vehicle in the lanes provided is established and a characteristic value is derived from this in the electronic control unit, which value indicates whether the driver's motor vehicle is in a situation with left-hand or with right-hand traffic. (end of abstract)
Agent: Macmillan, Sobanski & Todd, LLC - Toledo, OH, US Inventor: Marko Schroder USPTO Applicaton #: 20050209764 - Class: 701093000 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Data Processing: Vehicles, Navigation, And Relative Location, Vehicle Control, Guidance, Operation, Or Indication, Indication Or Control Of Braking, Acceleration, Or Deceleration, Vehicle Speed Control (e.g., Cruise Control) The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20050209764. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] The invention relates to a system for influencing the speed of a motor vehicle. Control systems of this kind are increasingly being used in motor vehicles, in particular upper and upper medium class private cars, under the name of ACC (Autonomous/Adaptive Cruise Control). PRIOR ART [0002] Devices are known which control the driving speed of a motor vehicle, wherein the driver can preset a desired speed and the driving speed of the motor vehicle is brought to this target speed by a speed controller and kept there all the time this device is activated. However, no monitoring of the driving speed of a motor vehicle traveling ahead takes place in this case. Therefore the driver has to intervene if his own motor vehicle comes too close to the motor vehicle traveling ahead. Similarly, if the speed of the motor vehicle traveling ahead increases, the driver can also increase the speed of his own vehicle correspondingly. [0003] A device which removes from the driver the monitoring of the distance from the motor vehicle traveling ahead and adjusts the speed of his own motor vehicle to the speed of a motor vehicle traveling ahead is described, for example, in EP-A-0 612 641. [0004] The Problem on which the Invention is Based [0005] In order to give ACC systems of this kind broader use successfully, safe and reliable operation of these systems is required, which also results in greater driving comfort and therefore increased acceptance by drivers. The invention is concerned in particular with the problem of detecting whether the driver's vehicle is in a situation with left or right-hand traffic. Left-hand traffic in this context means that by regulation a motor vehicle has, in the direction of travel, to drive on the left-hand lane half while where there is right-hand traffic, a motor vehicle has by regulation to drive on the, in the direction of travel, right-hand lane half. [0006] Solution According to the Invention [0007] According to the invention, for the detection or differentiation of left-hand or right-hand traffic, the speed of vehicles driving in the lanes present in front of the driver's vehicle is ascertained in the electronic control unit and a characteristic value which indicates whether the driver's vehicle is in a situation with left or right-hand traffic is derived therefrom. [0008] The invention makes use of the finding that a more intensive evaluation of the driving environment of the driver's vehicle is required. The results of this evaluation of the driving environment are then to be used for influencing the speed of one's own motor vehicle. [0009] In this way it is possible to ascertain the location of the lanes with two-way traffic and to neglect these when searching for target vehicles. This reduces evaluation work or outlay considerably and at the same time increases the reliability of target selection. [0010] Configurations According to the Invention and Advantageous Further Developments [0011] The function of an ACC system of the kind according to the invention is based on the fact that arranged on the front part of one's own vehicle is a sensor, generally orientated rigidly towards the front and usually a radar sensor, with a relatively narrow detection range. This sensor serves to detect objects located in the detection range and to report them to an ECU (with the distance and lateral drift or angle position to the central axis of the sensor or of the motor vehicle and possibly the size of the object). [0012] From these data and from several other data acquired in one's own vehicle (speed, rate of revolutions or yaw rate about the vertical axis of own vehicle, side acceleration of own vehicle, etc.) firstly the lane or the driving corridor of one's own vehicle is determined in the ECU. Based on this, a, generally the closest, motor vehicle in one's own driving corridor is then determined according to certain criteria as the target vehicle traveling ahead, in order to control the distance, based on this vehicle, by intervening in the engine control, the gear control and the braking system. It is therefore possible for one's own vehicle to follow a vehicle traveling ahead at a safe distance (possibly depending on the speed and other factors), fixing and maintaining the safe distance being performed by interventions in the engine control system and in the braking system of one's one motor vehicle independent of the driver. The driver generally presets only one desired speed of his own motor vehicle and/or a desired distance of his own motor vehicle from a target motor vehicle. [0013] In other words the invention provides a system for evaluating the driving environment of a motor vehicle and for influencing the speed of the motor vehicle. This system has an ECU which is connected to a signal transmitter generating a signal characteristic of the desired speed/desired distance of the motor vehicle. Moreover, the momentary (actual) speed of one's own motor vehicle is fed to the ECU. [0014] Moreover, the ECU is connected to a signal transmitter generating a signal characteristic of the rate of revolutions of the motor vehicle about its vertical axis. [0015] Furthermore, the ECU is connected to a signal transmitter which generates a signal characteristic of objects located in the area in front of the motor vehicle in the direction of travel of the motor vehicle in respect of their distance and orientation to the motor vehicle. This may be a radar sensor, an ultrasound or infrared sensor, or else a picture sensor (video camera). The area scanned by the sensor is approximately conical or lobar and has a length of approximately 100-250 meters and an aperture of approximately 12.degree., depending on the actual circumstances of the environment. Safe detection/selection can therefore be made for objects located at a distance of approximately 170+/-30 meters from one's own vehicle or are moving in front of it within this range. [0016] Finally, the ECU is connected to a signal transmitter generating a signal characteristic of the speed of at least one wheel of the motor vehicle. This may be, for example, the revolution counter of the anti-blocking system (ABS). In the ECU the signals from these signal transmitters are processed by means of one or more computer unit(s). The results therein determined are fed as output signals derived from the driving behavior of the motor vehicle located in front of one's own motor vehicle by the ECU to at least one control device which has an influence on the driving behavior of one's own motor vehicle. [0017] As detection of the objects takes place in a chronological grid of tens of milliseconds (for example 50 milliseconds), the chronological changes in the positions of the individual objects can be established in the ECU. Taking into account the movement(s) of one's own vehicle, movements of the objects and possibly their relative speed can also be calculated in the ECU. From this the attributes "stationary", "moving substantially in the same direction as own vehicle" or "moving substantially in the opposite direction to own motor vehicle" are also allocated to the object in the ECU. [0018] In other words, for objects located in the area at least their speed relative to the speed of one's own vehicle, their distance relative to one's own motor vehicle and the angle offset or the lateral drift relative to the longitudinal axis of one's own vehicle are continually detected and evaluated in the ECU from signals from the signal transmitter which generates a signal characteristic of objects located in the area in front of the motor vehicle in the driving direction of the motor vehicle in respect of their distance and orientation to the motor vehicle. [0019] For practical reasons the number of objects observed is limited in this case. Stationary targets, in other words those whose relative speed in the direction of travel of one's own motor vehicle is the same as the speed of one's own vehicle with opposite algebraic signs, are excluded. Objects located close to one's own motor vehicle are preferred to objects located further away. [0020] All objects classified by the ECU as being considered in any way as target objects on the basis of the signals detected by the radar sensor are kept in an object table in which the respective attributes and data of the objects are also kept and entered or updated by the ECU using the current (new) calculations. [0021] In particular, to reduce the possible targets located in the lane in front of one's own vehicle, generally not the entire detection area--limited by the aperture of the (radar) sensor--is evaluated, but a reduced region in respect thereof. This measure reduces the number of objects to be observed. For simplicity's sake, however--insofar as there is no explicit reference thereto--it will be assumed below that the range actually evaluated and the detection area in front of one's own motor vehicle coincide. [0022] As explained above, one stage in determining the (distance) from one's own motor vehicle to "tracking" vehicles is determining one's own lane. This is established by its centre line, its width or approximately by sections with a constant radius of curvature. The present system modifies the radius of curvature R of the bend of the lane of the centre of gravity of one's own motor vehicle using the change in the angle bearing of the objects traveling ahead and the absolute position of the objects traveling ahead compared with the momentarily predicated lane in the ECU to establish the centre line of one's own lane in the area detected in front of the motor vehicle. Continue reading... Full patent description for System for recognizing left-hand or right-hand driving conditions Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this System for recognizing left-hand or right-hand driving conditions patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. 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